The Metal Knight
by chaosthesith89
Summary: Certain events changed the fates of the Yondaime, as well as his wife and children. Now, years later, the Namikaze's have to deal with their mistakes, in the form of an armored knight with a bad history with Konoha. Somewhat GS/GSD mix up. Naru/Harem.
1. Encounters of a Strange Kind

Metal Knight

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Gundam SEED or any other source I may use in this story. They belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Technique/Jutsu"

"**Demon Speech**"

Chapter 1: Encounters of a Strange Kind

Konohagakure no Sato, or more commonly known as Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Considered by many, though mostly the populous of Konoha, to be the most powerful ninja village in the Elemental Nations. Since its creation almost eighty years before, there have been a medley of powerful shinobi and kunoichi produced from this village. The Shodai Hokage, with his Wood-release ability, the Nidaime with his affinity for Water-jutsu, the Sandaime, known to all as "The Professor" and "The God of Shinobi," and finally the Yondaime Hokage, known as "The Yellow Flash." Also, there was Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha, and the Legendary Sannin. However, even though the village had spawned many powerhouses, that wasn't to say it didn't have a darker side to the picture.

One day, some years ago, the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, attacked the village of Konoha. Many valiant ninja died that night, and in the end, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato sealed the demon into his newborn son. Luckily, in most of the villages mind, Minato had altered the seal that held the Kyuubi so that his life wouldn't be taken for the sealing. Thus, Minato's fame grew rapidly that night, with the story of him defeating the most powerful Bijuu in existence.

Sadly, his son, Naruto, didn't know anything but grief during his life in Konoha, thanks mostly to his parents. Minato, and his wife, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, made it a point to inform the villagers of Naruto's affliction, and when the villagers felt the need to take out their anger on the boy, they did nothing to help him. Instead, they focused all their time and energy on Naruto's twin sister, Natsuki, while hoping that Naruto would learn to be submissive to the villages might.

However, their hopes would be destroyed, when five years after the sealing, when Naruto had turned five, he vanished from the village. Thanks to the negligence of his parents, they didn't notice the fact until several days later, and by then, the boy had disappeared from the Hi no Kuni. And so, any hope of having a powerful weapon under the villages control was lost, all thanks to the neglect of two parents to one small boy.

For the next decade, the village did well in restoring itself back to its former ways, and the damage from the Kyuubi attack was mostly nonexistent. However, there were some issues to deal with internally, such as what would be known as the Uchiha Slaughter. Two years after Naruto Uzumaki's disappearance, the Uchiha clan had made attempts to find the boy to try and keep him safe, in their care. However, Namikaze Minato wanted none of this, believing that if they boy was found, he should be made into the villages ultimate weapon. So, in the course of a single night, Minato had eight platoons of ANBU eliminate the Uchiha, leaving only two alive, one being Uchiha Sasuke, and the other his older brother Itachi. Sasuke was left alive, because the council requested one remain to rebreed the Uchiha clan back to its prime, while Itachi had went rogue, becoming a Nuke-nin.

Since then, for eight years, Sasuke was spoiled by the civilians, making him act like an arrogant person, believing he was superior to the whole village. It was also on Minato's orders that a memory jutsu be applied to Sasuke, making him believe that his older brother had slaughtered the Uchiha clan. Ever since that point, Sasuke has had the obsession to kill his older brother and avenge his clan, which Minato was happy about, since Itachi was the only person outside of the council to know the truth about why the Uchiha clan was annihilated.

And so, fifteen years later, the village had returned to its former condition, and it was about this time that Uchiha Sasuke had graduated from the Ninja Academy. He, along with several other clan heirs were placed on three specific teams that were the only ones to pass on to the real Gennin levels. On one team was Uchiha Sasuke, with Haruno Sakura and Sai, under their Jounin-sensei, Hatake Kakashi. The other teams were Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino under Yuuhi Kurenai, and Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akamichi Chouji under Sarutobi Asuma.

Currently, Team Seven was in Wave Country, on a supposed C-rank Mission, which had really become an A-ranked mission after the team encountered Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. As luck would have it, the team had managed to survive, thanks mostly to Sai, but Kakashi decided to give the credit to the Uchiha. However, a week later, when the team escorted their client, Tazuna to the bridge to finish its construction, they once again encountered Zabuza, who also had his accomplice, Haku with him. What transpired afterwards was a short, one-sided battle between Haku and Sasuke, with Sasuke's arrogance trapping him in Haku's Ice-dome, thinking he could defeat the fake Oinin inside the jutsu. That idea was quickly shattered, as even when he managed to awaken his Sharingan, he still couldn't keep up. And this is where our story begins.

'Damn, even with my Sharingan, I can't keep up with the attacks.' Sasuke thought, multiple senbon needles piercing his skin, while he stared at the mirrors in front of him, all of them showing the same image of the fake oinin.

Off to the side, his teammates Sakura and Sai stood, guarding the bridge-builder Tazuna. Sasuke had arrogantly told them to stay back, and now they were seeing the damage that Sasuke's opponent had done.

'My precious Sasuke-kun, how dare that bastard do this to him.' Sakura thought, while holding her kunai in a defensive position, while trying not to piss herself from the raw killing intent coming from Kakashi and Zabuza.

'If I use my ink animals, I could save Sasuke. However, I was ordered by Kakashi to stay out of the ordeal. Decisions, decisions.' Sai thought.

Not too far away from them, Kakashi and Zabuza were battling it out, each trying to get the upper hand. The whole bridge was coated in mist, effectively hiding Zabuza from the Konoha nin. Kakashi stood in the thick of the mist, already searching for any trace of Zabuza, while going over the details in his head.

'This mist is blocking any possibility of seeing Zabuza, and the whole area is covered with his scent, so my sense of smell is out.' Kakashi thought, his eyes darting around hoping to catch a glimpse of his opponent. 'Where, where is he going to strike?' Suddenly, Kakashi's eyes widened, as he whipped his body around, and dashed back toward his team. 'He's going for Tazuna.'

(With Sakura, Sai and Tazuna)

The three were waiting, either for Kakashi to return, or for Sasuke to move again, seeing as he was the closest, and he was currently immobile, which could be seen, even with the mist. Suddenly, they felt a massive chakra surge from in front of them, and when they managed to turn their gaze to the source, they found Zabuza running at them, his blade lifted, ready to cleave all three of them in two.

'Now's a good time.' Sai thought, his hand ghosting to his paper pad, ready to pulse the chakra needed for his technique.

In a brief moment, Kakashi appeared in front of the team, his right eye closed, while his left, the Sharingan was wide open, hoping to catch Zabuza with the Hypnotic powers.

"It's too late for that, Kakashi!" Zabuza shouted, swinging his blade. However, the blade never managed to hit the target, since someone else appeared and blocked the attack. When the group from Konoha, as well as Zabuza, realized this, they turned their gaze to the person responsible.

Clad in mostly in white, the figure had on loose fitting jeans, with the pant legs tucked into combat boots, which had red buckles on them. Covering his chest was a blood red shirt, and over this was a trench coat, which was also white in color. Sunny blonde hair adorned the figures head, and on his left arm that was holding the large sword of Zabuza's back, was a small shield, white on the edges, with a red interior, and on the center was a golden cross.

"Lucky for you Konoha Nin that I was passing through." The figure said, his cerulean blue eyes never leaving Zabuza's face, which had a look of shock. A moment later, the figures right leg shot up, forcing Zabuza to jump away from the new arrival.

"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza shouted, noting the curious gazes on the Konoha nin's faces as well.

"Just a passing freelancer." The figure said, while lowering his left arm. "And judging from how things have been for these battles, I think I'll be your opponent for now."

"Hey, do you even know who this is?" Kakashi asked the new arrival, not sure if this person knew what he was getting himself into.

"Momochi Zabuza, former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and Nuke-nin of Mizugakure no Sato. Wanted for the attempted coup d'état to upsurp the Yondaime Mizukage, and the attempted assassination of the Yondaime Mizukage."

"You've done your homework, I see." Zabuza commented, his voiced laced with pride when his previous actions were listed.

"Yes, that's what the Bingo Books called you on, but I know why you tried to kill the Mizukage." The figure commented, while giving Zabuza a bored look.

"Oh, and that was?" Zabuza questioned, wondering what this person thought.

"The Yondaime Mizukage appears to be a tyrant, actively encouraging his people to hate and kill any with a Kekkei Genkai. However, I'm very sure about the fact that the Kekkei Genkai purge wasn't even of his doing." The figure commented, getting shocked looks from all the gathered Nin.

"Well, that doesn't matter now. So, are you going to fight me, or just talk all day?" Zabuza questioned.

"It seems I won't have a choice. I'll battle you." The figure said, while shifting his head slightly, allowing him to glance at Kakashi, while still keeping Zabuza in his main sight. "Stay back and keep your students out of this matter."

"But I have to go help my other student, Uchiha Sasuke." Kakashi said, while the other three nodded.

"Not a problem." The figure said, getting accusing looks from the other Nin. "Since your third student is engaged in a fight with Zabuza's apprentice, it will all work out."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Sakura yelled, not sure who this person is, but she sure didn't want to risk her 'precious Sasuke-kun.'

"After observing how Zabuza's apprentice fights, I'm positive that if Zabuza is placed into too much danger, his apprentice will drop the fight to help." The figured answered, getting a shocked look from all the Nin once again, before reaching behind his back with both arms. In a small flash of light, two large objects, shaped similarly to swords, minus the cutting side, were pulled out. Then, with a slight flourish, the figure clashed the two blades pommels together, effectively locking the swords together, before twirling them, and then brandishing the weapon at his opponent. Suddenly, two glowing blades appeared on the formerly dull edge of the swords, and looking closely, Kakashi could see that the blades were purely concentrated chakra.

'That's like my father's blade.' Kakashi thought, both his eyes widened in visible shock.

"Oh, another sword fighter." Zabuza commented.

"This isn't going to be much of a fight." The figure said, while rushing for Zabuza. Raising his dual sword above his head, the figure swung for Zabuza, who managed to dodge the attack. However, he barely had any time to react before the sword was swung back at him, and he barely managed to raise his own sword to take the attack. What Zabuza wasn't anticipating was the attack to launch him into the air, and sending him flying backwards.

Landing a distance away, Zabuza flew through handseals, intending to use a jutsu on his opponent. Seeing this, his opponent gave a quick yank onto the sword handles, effectively separating the blades again, before rushing at Zabuza, this time quicker than before.

Realizing he would be killed if he stayed in the same spot, Zabuza leapt into the air, his opponent following as well, while the two slashed at each other. After managing to get behind the figure, Zabuza pulled out a single kunai, and flung it full force at his opponent, but the kunai was stopped by the shield, before the figure turned fully, and flung one of the swords at Zabuza. Quickly raising his own sword, Zabuza felt the blade contact with his own, and managed to push away from him, making it crash into the bridge.

After landing back on the ground, Zabuza was left panting, while his opponent hadn't even broken a sweat yet. It was about this time that Zabuza also noticed a strange, backpack-type of item attached to the boys back. Also on it were what appeared to be to boomerang style items, though Zabuza had no idea what they were for.

"Not bad, kid. You're actually wearing me out." Zabuza said.

Instead of answering, the figure rushed in again, swinging the other sword, while Zabuza ducked. Getting the momentum, Zabuza swung his own blade, while his opponent swung his, and it was then that Zabuza realized he wouldn't be able to parry the attack.

As Zabuza's sword contacted his opponents shield, the figures blade was also stopped by something. Turning his attention slightly, Zabuza saw it was his apprentice Haku who had managed to stop the sword from cutting him in two.

"Haku, what are you doing?" Zabuza asked.

"Protecting you, Zabuza-sama." Haku responded, the mask still on, preventing any from seeing any facial features.

"I was wondering when you would show up." The figure commented. "Though I'm surprised you managed to stop my sword with…" The figure took a quick glance at Haku's hands, "three senbon. Very impressive, you have the strength of an average Jounin male."

"I am a boy." Haku responded, getting a chuckle from the figure, while the pressure on the blade was increased.

"You may be able to fool others with your deeper voice, but you can't fool me. Maybe if you didn't over-bind your chest, you wouldn't be breathing so loud right now." He responded, getting shocked looks from Zabuza and Haku.

Leaping back, while simultaneously grabbing the other sword, the figure maneuvered the swords onto his back, where they flawlessly attached to the backpack piece. Then, shifting his hands slightly, he grabbed hold of the two boomerang objects, quickly pulling them off the pack and crossing his arms, where they gained a chakra blade, similar to the sword, albeit much smaller.

Uncrossing them, and then swinging his arms, the figure chucked the boomerangs which flew at Zabuza and Haku. However, both were dodged by the two and shortly after they returned to their owner. Seeing his opportunity, Zabuza rushed in with his sword once again raised, while his opponent was looking at the other end of the bridge, as if seeing something that wasn't there before. Right as the blade neared its target, the figure raised his shield once again, blocking the sword once more, before turning his gaze back to Zabuza.

"It would seem our fight is over." He commented, receiving a confused look from Zabuza. Then, the figure shoved Zabuza back from him, while grabbing both blades from his back, and after recombining the blades, spun them in a rapid movement, effectively clearing the fog off the bridge.

There, at the unfinished end of the bridge stood a short man in a disgusting purple suit, flanked by several dozen thugs, all of them carrying various weapons.

"Gato, what's the meaning of this? Why are you here, and who are these thugs you brought with you?" Zabuza asked, getting a sneer from the midget.

"You disappoint me Zabuza. The Demon of the Hidden Mist, forced into a stalemate with a kid?" The now named Gato responded. "I'm altering the deal. Now, you die with the Konoha ninja, and I'll take your little apprentice as my personal toy." Gato said, licking his lips while ogling Haku.

"Sorry, not gonna happen." The figure said, while placing his blades once again onto his backpack.

"Oh, and what do you think you can do?" Gato asked, fully believing he had the upper hand. "I have over 50 men here, even if you had the Konoha Nin help you, you won't win."

"You're assuming," the figure began, catching everyone, even the newly reawakened Sasuke's attention. "That I need their help. I can handle you all by myself."

"Oh, that's rich." Gato commented, while his thugs all broke into hysterical laughter. This stopped, however, when they noticed the backpack, along with the large swords and boomerangs vanish from the boys back, while his clothes lost their color, fading to a dull grey.

"You haven't seen…the depths of my power." He responded, while a new backpack took the old ones place. Now attached to his back was two large objects, the closest comparison anyone could have to them were cannons, which were white, with black and green accents. Also on his back were two other objects, closely resembling fins, with two smaller cannons, also colored primarily green. When these had appeared, the boys clothes also changed into a new color, maintaining the majority of white, and the shield. However, his under shirt was now pitch black instead of blood red.

"What you saw before was my Sword Form." The figure commented. "Now, say hello to my Blast Form."

With this, the two larger cannons rotated, coming up under the boys arms, while the ones on the fins lowered on each side of his head. A second later, twin beams of blue and red energy flew from the lower cannons, while twin beams of yellow energy launched from the upper cannons. The thugs never had time to react; a second later, Gato's men were reduced to zero, the remains either splattering the end of the bridge or falling into the water below.

Seeing the state of his thugs, Gato slowly turned back around to see the figure slowly moving toward him, the cannons returned to their previous position.

"W-who the hell are you?" Gato screamed, while backing up until he was nearly at the edge of the bridge.

"I am known by a single name to my enemies." He said, while pulling out a metal tube from his pack, which soon expanded in length to be nearly as tall as its holder. "My name is…" He said, while pulling his arm back, the weapon activating its chakra beam at both ends of it. "Naito no Kane (Metal Knight)." With that, he thrust the beam javelin into Gato, straight through the man's chest and out his back.

A few seconds later, Naito no Kane pulled the javelin out of Gato, while spinning and kicking the dwarf into the water below. Sighing out loud, the man deactivated the beams, and replaced the javelin, before allowing his backpack system to fade, though his clothes remained close to the same, the only difference being his shirt lost the black color, becoming white as well.

"Talk about a waste of time." He commented, getting a sweat-drop from the gathered nin.

'He considers taking down over 50 men a waste of time?' Kakashi thought, his thoughts similar to Zabuza.

'This guy may act cool, but he's not cooler than MY Sasuke-kun.' Were the thoughts of one loud-mouthed, pink-haired howler monkey.

'A most impressive individual, though I wonder what his real name is?' The artist of the group thought.

Suddenly, movement was heard from the opposite end of the bridge, and that was when the gathered shinobi, plus one civilian, found the members of the entire town standing there. Some were holding tools, such as pitchforks, and other such farm items for weapons, while at the front of the group stood a small boy, his black hair covered by cooking pan, with a piece of rope holding it to the boys head. All of them had one thing in common, and that was confusion as to where the enemies had gone too, namely Gato and his mercenaries.

However, the first to react was the boy at the head of the group, who rushed past the Konoha Nin, and stopped straight in front of the person who had just destroyed the oppressor of Wave Country.

"It's you, the one who saved me and my kaa-chan." The young boy said with a glimmer in his eyes.

"Inari, what do you mean?" Tazuna asked, while the Nin waited for the boy to respond.

"That arrogant midget Gato had sent some men to this kid's house, probably in hopes of using them as either hostages to get you to stop building the bridge, or as scapegoats for the mercs he was hiring. I happened by the house, and took care of the two men." The blonde-haired youth said, answering for the younger boy, who still had a star-struck look in his eyes.

Tazuna moved forward toward the boy and when he was standing a few feet away, he bowed to the boy. "I cannot thank you enough for saving my daughter and grandson from the evil tyrant. I don't know what I would do if I lost either of them."

"No sweat, I'm not one to turn down a person in need, hence the reason I saved you, since it seems only one of those Genin has any skills." The blonde replied.

"Well, glad to know you acknowledge the Uchiha's superiority." Uchiha Sasuke commented, while Sakura was helping him pull out the needles from his body, as he tried and failed to not wince when they left his skin.

"You? Hell no, I was talking about that walking statue with the sketch pad. While you were getting your ass handed to you by the Hunter-nin, and your pink-haired teammate was on the verge of pissing herself, that kid was biding his time, waiting for the right time to strike and damage either Zabuza, or Haku." The blonde replied, getting a furious scowl from Sasuke, and a rather angry glare from Sakura, and a small amount of killing intent from both. However, the blonde simply ignored this and turned to the completed section of the bridge and began walking.

"Hey, where are you going?" Inari asked, while running after the blonde boy.

"Well, since my work here is finished, I'm gonna head out." The blonde replied.

"Ah, but you only just got here. Why don't you stay with us for the night, and head out tomorrow." Inari suggested, hoping to spend more time with this cool person.

"I don't know." Was the response.

"It's fine with me, you've more than earned a stay at our house, what with saving myself, my daughter and grandson." Tazuna reaffirmed, getting a shrug from the blonde.

"Fine, but before that happens, there is something I need to take care of." With that, the blonde vanished, leaving a very startled group behind, wondering who this strange person is, and what was going to happen next.

**And done! Well, what do you guys think? I had been tinkering with this story idea for about two or three months now, and I'm debating on whether to try it full time. Depending on the amount of reviews and their content, I may keep this up. I know, it's weird, but I'm working up to explaining how Naruto had the backpack systems, and where he got them. Just, bear with it for another chapter or two.**


	2. Destructive Revelations

Metal Knight

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Technique/Jutsu"

"**Demon Speech**"

Chapter 2: Destructive Revelations

Walking along the path to Konohagakure no Sato, we find Team 7, as well as three other individuals. One of them was easily identifiable by the large zanbatou on his back, as well as the bandages on his face. The person directly next to this person was a lot shorter, with long black hair and a deep blue outfit covering her body. Lastly, the final figure was a blonde boy about 5'7", with a long flowing white trench coat, and mostly white clothes underneath that as well. Their names were Momochi Zabuza, his apprentice and surrogate daughter Haku, and the strangely named Naito no Kane.

These three had joined the group heading to Konoha for different reasons, but mostly because of the blonde person.

(Flashback)

"_Hey, blonde kid." Zabuza said, getting the attention of the person in question._

"_Don't refer to me by my hair color only." The person said, an annoyed expression on his face._

_Zabuza shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well, I'm not about to start calling you Naito no Kane all the time, so I'm using a nickname."_

"_Call me Athrun." The blonde replied. Seeing the confused looks from the group, he continued. "It's the name given to me by the person who took me in and cared for me when no one else would."_

"_Alright, Athrun." Zabuza said, getting a nod from the now named Athrun. "I was hoping that we could go with you to where ever it is you intend to go."_

"_Why would you want that? I don't even live within the Elemental Countries?" Athrun asked._

"_I've grown tired of the life of a Nuke-nin, and I wish for something better for myself, and most of all for Haku." He said, while said girl beside him nodded, and blushed lightly at the look Athrun was giving her and Zabuza._

"_Fine, but know this, things outside the Elemental Countries are very different, so when we get there, you listen to me and do exactly what I tell you to do." Athrun responded, getting nods from Zabuza and Haku._

"_Actually, there was something I needed to discuss with you as well." The three turned to find Hatake Kakashi standing before them, his single visible eye showing a serious look._

"_What do you want Kakashi." Zabuza asked, not liking the look he was getting._

"_I was actually planning on having you, and your apprentice, join Konoha, so that you can show you do apologize for attacking my team." Kakashi replied, getting a serious dose of killing intent from both Zabuza and Haku._

"_You think we should be forced into your village just because a single job pushed us against each other in battle?" Zabuza asked, his face a mask of pure rage._

"_Yes." Kakashi answered simply, and he would have said more, if not for Athrun getting in between him and the others._

"_I don't think so, Cyclops." Athrun said, and before Kakashi could respond, the blonde continued. "These two were under contract to stop the bridges construction, just like you were under contract to help guard the main builder behind it. Also, after their client was killed, instead of re-engaging you in battle, they stood down, so by technicality, they are not at fault for what has happened to you, your Genin, or the old bridge builder."_

"_Yes, that is true, however—" He was once again stopped by Athrun._

"_As such, you have no right to tell them to make reparations to your village simply for performing a task set forth by someone else. If anything, you would be saying that to Gato, if were he not feeding the local sharks by now."_

'_Damn.' Kakashi thought, while out loud, he sighed, and turned his back to them. "Very well." As he left the room, he then began thinking about the previous events. 'Just who is that boy? I have the most peculiar feeling that I've seen him before, it's almost like he was from Konoha.' Deciding to find out more, as he made it out of the room, he whipped around the corner, flashed through five hand-seals, bit his thumb, swiped it along a scroll that he pulled from his inner pocket, and softly called the jutsu. "__Kuchiyose no Jutsu__" In a small puff of smoke, a small canine, a pug, with a Konoha hitai-ate on its head._

"_Kakashi, what can I do for you?" The small dog asked._

"_Pakkun, the blonde boy in the room behind me sparks something from my memory, but I can't figure out who he is. I'm hoping with your sense of smell, you could tell me if it's someone you have met as well." Kakashi answered, getting a shrug from the dog, who took a deep breath through his nose. After a few moments of silence, Pakkun's eyes shot open, and so did his mouth from the shock._

"_Naruto?" Pakkun said softly, almost low enough that Kakashi didn't hear him._

"_What did you say?" Kakashi asked._

"_I said that boy smells like Naruto, the boy that Minato and Kushina neglected who ran away a decade ago." Pakkun said, shocking Kakashi._

"_If that's true, then we need to do something." Kakashi said, while tapping his chin in thought._

"_What is it you suggest we do?" Pakkun questioned. A few seconds later, Kakashi snapped his fingers, and quickly pulled out a scroll and a pen, before writing a short message in it. After he was finished, Kakashi rolled the letter up and held it out to Pakkun._

"_Take this letter to Minato-sensei, he'll know what to do." Kakashi said, getting a slow nod from Pakkun, who took the scroll in his mouth, and vanished a moment later. Several minutes went by and then Pakkun reappeared in another puff of smoke, holding another scroll in his mouth, which he gave to Kakashi. The Jounin in question quickly read over the contents, and when he was finished, he rolled the scroll up and stood._

"_What did the message say?" Pakkun asked._

"_I'm to request Naruto return to Konoha, so that Minato-sensei can try to restore the boy to Konoha." Kakashi said, his voice calm._

"_Kakashi, you know just like I do that after everything Konoha did to him, Naruto will not return willingly." Pakkun said, getting a short nod from the Jounin._

"_I know, but still, I have to do it."_

_(Back in the main room)_

"_Athrun." Was suddenly heard, causing the boy in question, and the two other nin to turn and see Kakashi walking back toward them. "I need to speak to you."_

"_If this is about Zabuza and Haku, they are not going to Konoha." Athrun said, getting a negative head shake from Kakashi._

"_Actually, I was hoping I could ask you to help escort my team back to Konoha." Kakashi said, getting a confused look from the other three._

"_Why would you need my help with that, if you really are a Jounin?" Athrun asked._

"_I may be a Jounin, the one of the boys on my team, Sasuke, is the last of the Uchiha, and I'm worried that after the fiasco on the bridge, there might be outsiders that know about him that could try and abduct him. I may be a Jounin, but if they have been informed about me, they can just as easily have enough men there to take him and withstand me." Kakashi said, getting a understanding nod from Athrun. "Also, you said you work as a freelancer, and I'm more than positive the Council will be willing to pay you for saving Uchiha Sasuke on the bridge."_

"_There wasn't really much to save, Haku wasn't trying to hit vital areas. She was aiming to incapacitate, not kill." Athrun said, getting a shocked look from the one-eyed Jounin. "If she was aiming to do more than put him out of commission, she could have aimed for his eyes, or she could have used kunai instead of senbon."_

"_I see your point." Kakashi conceded, realizing his favorite student had been bested by someone who wasn't going for the kill._

"_However, I think I will accompany you to Konoha, seeing as I have something's to take care of there anyways." Athrun finished, getting a brief nod from the Konoha Jounin before he left the room._

_(The next day)_

_All the people had finally gathered at the bridge, celebrating its completion, and also to say their goodbyes to the ones who had helped them. After Athrun had vanished from the bridge, he had turned up at Tazuna's house several hours later, before handing the old bridge-builder a scroll full of money and material expropriated from Gato's mansion. Thanks to that, Tazuna had used the material to finish the bridge, and dispersed the money to the people of Wave Country to help them all get back on their feet. To honor Athrun for his bravery, they had named the bridge after his alias, calling it the Great Naito no Kane Bridge._

"_We owe you so much, Athrun." Tazuna said, while Inari was hugging the boys legs, trying to hold back his tears._

"_Hey, I'm just a sap for helping victims of tyrants." He responded, while patting Inari on the head. "And from now on, Wave Country will know to defend what's theirs with everything they have."_

"_That we do." Tazuna said, while Kakashi moved forward to speak to him._

"_There is also the matter of the unpaid fee for a C-rank turned A-rank mission." He said plainly, getting a grimace from Athrun and most of the gathered civilians._

"_There's no need for that." Athrun said, while tossing a small sack to Kakashi, who opened it and found a good amount of money. "If my information about the mission pay system is correct, that should suffice."_

"_Where did you—" Kakashi began, before Athrun cut him off._

"_It was part of the funds I took from Gato. Since he won't be needing it, and I had a feeling you would bring up the pay, I kept hold of that amount."_

"_And if Kakashi-sensei hadn't mentioned the payment?" Sakura said from behind them, with a sadistic gleam in her eyes. 'Now, if he waits to answer, the people of Wave will know he meant to keep it for himself, and they'll realize Sasuke is much cooler.' Was her inner thoughts. However, her plan soon backfired, when Athrun answered without even giving a second of thought._

"_I would have simply left it with Tazuna, who could have done with it what he thought was best."_

'_Damn him.' Sakura thought, her inner self saying the same thing._

"_Well, I guess we should get going, the sooner we get done with Konoha, the sooner I can go home." He said, while Inari sniffled a little. "Inari, you do your best to keep what's precious to you safe."_

"_Alright." He said, his eyes watering up. "Will I ever see you again?" He asked._

"_I'm not tied down by any specific village Inari, so I can definitely say I'll come visit." Athrun replied, getting a happy smile from the boy, though his tears were still there. As the group was leaving the people of Wave shouted goodbyes to them, with Inari calling out "Thank you, Athrun-nii-san."_

(End Flashback)

The group had been traveling at a good pace, much faster than when they had Tazuna, so they only had to stop two times, both because Sakura had complained about being tired. However, the group had managed to make it to Konoha within six hours. As the gates came within view, Sakura began happily commenting about being home, while trying (and failing) to get Sasuke to go on a date with her.

Almost instantly after clearing the gate, and beginning the walk to the Hokage tower, the group soon found themselves surrounded by several dozen figures. All of them wearing black shinobi pants and shirts, with sandals and elbow guards. On their faces, showing the only difference between them, were ceramic masks, which had designs of a different animal each. They were mostly ignoring the other two foreign ninja, and completely ignoring the team from Konoha. Their full attention was on the blonde-haired member of the group that had just entered the village.

Athrun, for his part, didn't react to much, just allowing himself to settle into a simple defensive stance, that to any civilian, or untrained shinobi (cough*Sakura*cough) would seem harmless, but the veterans could see he was ready for any kind of hostile movement. Suddenly, there was a small break in the group of ANBU, and strolling through them was a man with hair the same color as Athrun's, and his eyes were similar, if only a lighter shade of blue. His clothes were that of a standard Jounin, while overtop of it he had a white haori with red flames on the bottom of the coat.

"Very good performance, ANBU, you managed to surround him rather easily." The man said, getting a series of "Hai, Hokage-sama" from the gathered nin. "And if this isn't a sight to be seen." He said, gesturing to the boy in the center of the group.

"Some grateful village this is. I save your 'Last Uchiha's' ass, and you pull a bullshit stunt like this." Athrun replied, while eyeing the Hokage.

"I think it was rather necessary, seeing as you wouldn't listen if not for this." The Hokage replied.

"You have nothing to say that I want to hear. I only came here to see one person, and once I do, I'm gone." Athrun shot back.

"No, you won't be leaving here, not after what Kakashi told me." Minato replied, while Naruto shot a heated glare at the Jounin in question, who flinched back from the intensity of the gaze being directed at him. "I know who you are."

"My name is Athrun, and that is who I am." Athrun replied, but he saw the Hokage shaking his head.

"No, I mean who you really are." He said, getting a small shocked look from Athrun. "It's been a long time, Naruto, my son."

(With Zabuza and Haku)

To say the least, they were shocked. The person who had decimated Gato's mercenaries and helped Wave become restored was the son of the Yondaime Hokage, the Legendary Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze. However, their thoughts were cut short when the apparent Naruto walked toward the Hokage and slammed him in the face with enough force to knock the man back several feet.

"Don't you dare call me Naruto, you bastard." He said, getting shocked looks from all the Nin, even the ANBU, who were to surprised to do anything. "Naruto Namikaze died ten years ago, and the one standing before you is Athrun, the Naito no Kane."

"You can say that all you like, but you can't change that I am your father." Minato replied, while he stood and rubbed his sore face.

"You and that woman may have brought me into this world, but I will have nothing to do with you." Athrun said while he turned to leave.

"Then you leave me no choice." Minato said, his voice holding hardly any sadness. "ANBU, detain him." With that, the ANBU moved forward to restrain the boy, but most of them were forced to dodge as he countered them. The few who didn't dodge were unlucky to be caught by him spinning the massive blades he had used on the Bridge in Wave, slicing into them and cauterizing the wounds.

"If you think this bunch can stop me, you're wrong." Athrun shouted while his Sword backpack system reappeared, as well as more. Along his body, armor pieces appeared, mainly along his knees, feet, hands, shoulders, and his entire torso and waist. The gloves were colored black, as were the foot pieces, while the knee pieces had a white and red color scheme, and the shoulder pieces were blood red. The armor on his chest was almost completely red, with a small amount of gold on them, and on his head appeared a helmet with a golden V-shaped piece on the forehead.

"Impressive." One ANBU said, while he rushed forward, while dodging beam blade, but missing the other one that caught him in the right shoulder and sliced through to his left hip. At this, more ANBU tried rushing forward, only to meet the same fate, some living through the injuries, others not. The ANBU didn't last long, and soon, they were gone, whether it be by the massive swords, or the boomerangs, but by now, more ANBU had appeared, as did many Jounin and Chuunin, who were preparing to rush Athrun again.

Seeing this, Athrun leapt high into the air, while the backpack faded and was replaced once again. The Blast form took its place, changing the armor as well, with the hands staying the same, while the knees and shoulders lost the red and took on a black color, and his feet changed from black to blue. Also, on the chest, the red was replaced with mostly black, with a hint of green, while the golden stayed the same. Taking the chance of their confused state, Athrun quickly fired off multiple pod like objects from the top of the larger cannons, which flew at the shinobi, who arrogantly swatted them away, only for them to explode in their faces.

Landing on the ground and making a small crater, Athrun stood straight and eyed the Hokage and what remained of his gathered Nin. Most of them had either been killed, or injured to one extent or another. Several shinobi rushed the boy, only for his cannons to rotate around, and Athrun to fire a massive blast of blue/red, and yellow energy, annihilating most of their numbers, while a few got away with only flesh wounds.

Seeing the destruction, Minato sighed before walking forward, while Athrun once again allowed his backpack system to fade, though the armor stayed, just fading to a gray color. When he was within 15 feet of Athrun, Minato lifted his gaze to his son, his face showing a look akin to dealing with a petulant child.

"Was that really necessary Naruto, killing so many of my shinobi? You do know you're just making the village hate you more."

"Like I give a damn, you and your wife did more than enough to make sure I was hated by this village before I even knew what hate was." Athrun fired back, while glaring at the man. "Because of something you forced onto me, I was attacked, hated, and ignored by the villagers, the shinobi and most of all you."

Off to the side, Sakura asked her sensei something. "Kakashi-sensei, what does he mean by that?" She asked, honest confusion on her face.

"Fifteen years ago, when the Kyuubi no Kitsune attack, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato stepped up to challenge the beast." Kakashi said.

"We know that, the Yondaime managed to kill the Kyuubi and gain even more of a reputation, but what does that have to do with that Athrun, who the Yondaime says is his son?" Sasuke asked, not liking that he was being held in the dark about anything.

"The Yondaime didn't actually kill the Kyuubi, since it was an immortal being. So, he did the next best thing: Sealed the kitsune into a new-born child, one who had just had its umbilical cord cut." Athrun explained, getting a nod from the Yondaime. "But, here's the kicker, barely even a few hours after the Kyuubi had vanished, Minato gave the details to the whole village about its defeat, and even allowed them to think the boy who had the Kyuubi inside his body was the Kyuubi reincarnated."

"And what does that-" Sasuke began, only for Athrun to cut him off.

"That baby, was me!" Athrun shouted, shocking the Genin, since they had honestly no idea about any of this. "And the only reason you and the younger generation didn't know is because I vanished from Konoha at the age of five, so you never really heard them calling for the 'Demon brat's' blood."

"Even though that is true, I will not allow you to leave Konoha again." Minato said, while he settled himself into a battle stance.

"What, afraid of losing your precious 'Ultimate Weapon'?" Athrun shouted, surprising Minato. "I managed to hear you saying that to your wife before I left this village, even though you both knew I had helped stop the Kumo incident a year prior." This is what really shocked the gathered people, especially since several were Hyuuga. "Oh, bet the rest of you didn't know that. I was scrounging for food near the compound, when the Kumo Nin tripped over me, allowing the ANBU pursuing him to take him into custody. Minato ordered the ANBU to silence, saying that they had prevented the man from leaving without anyone else helping."

"They didn't need to think the demon container was a good person." Minato replied, surprising most of them. "They believed you to be the demon itself, and if they thought you were actually good, you would have been seen like a hero to them."

"And that is exactly why I refuse to stay in this village!" Athrun shouted, while a new backpack system came into play, and his armor became a different shade of color. His hands, once again, remained unchanged, while his feet became red, and his knees and shoulders took on a blue color. His upper body changed, giving his bug and sides a red color, while his upper chest gained a blue color. On his back was a large thruster system, though most of the shinobi had no idea what they did, and right beside his shoulders were two white tubes, similar to the javelins he had used on Gato.

"You think that pile of scrap can save you, Naruto?" Minato asked, his arrogance allowing to believe him to be unbeatable.

"For the last time, my name is NOT NARUTO!" Athrun shouted, while blasting toward the Yondaime with unbelievable speed, while pulling one of the tubes from his back, which quickly ignited a blade of pure chakra. Minato barely managed to dodge the sword strike, but he didn't manage to dodge the shield smashing into his face and launching him into a nearby building.

"Leave my daddy alone!" Was suddenly heard, and Athrun turned to see a red-haired girl with bright blue eyes running toward him, her fist cocked back for a punch. However, Athrun simply side-stepped it, and used a simple spin kick to knock her away. A moment later, another woman with red hair, this one with green eyes appeared, and quickly rushed to the girl to check on her.

"How dare you hit my daughter!" She shouted. "Who do you think you are?"

"Kushina, don't you recognize our son?" Minato said, as he had managed to pull himself from the building, and slowly made his way to his wife. Kushina turned her head and managed to see Athrun's face with the helmet still on, and after realization kicked him, she stood up.

"My sochi." She cried, while running toward him, obviously to hug him, only for Athrun to launch himself into the air, his thrusters keeping him in the air as he did.

"I'm not your son! You bastards gave up the right to call me that long ago!" He shouted back, while deactivating the blade and replacing it's tube, and then landing a good distance away from them.

"Naruto, let your mother give you a hug." She said, while trying to move toward the blonde. However, her actions were halted as Athrun pulled what could be closely called a gun, and fired a blast of energy off, which landed right at the woman's feet, leaving a crater in front of her.

"I said this to your bastard husband, I'll say it to you, and I'll say it for everyone to hear. I am NOT your son and my name is NOT Naruto. I'm never going back to being either of the AGAIN!" He shouted.

"You don't have a choice." Minato said, while he went to stand next to his wife. "We're not letting you leave Konoha again, not while I still have say."

"Then you won't have a say, not when I'm finished!" With that, the shield on Athrun's left arm faded, and he quickly grabbed both the tubes on his back, pulling them out and to the side, igniting the blades. Then, he blasted forward, a blast of light left behind him, and several afterimages as well, catching Minato and Kushina off guard. However before he can swing the blades and end their lives, Athrun is stopped in mid swing, by someone else holding his arms back.

Realizing his attack was stopped, Athrun planted his feet and blast off the ground, crashing back to earth a moment later, with a good amount of distance between himself and the person who had stopped his attack.

"It's been a long time, Naruto. Or, should I call you Athrun." The man said, lifting his head to show a face that Athrun hadn't seen in years.

"Saru-ojji."

**And that's a wrap. I had the bulk of this chapter planned out, and you see a person who can stop Athrun(Naruto, who hates his old name) from destroying Minato and Kushina, and more than likely Konoha. Next chapter has more details on the armor, as well as a little reunion or two. Also, to those of you who have read this already, and realized the change to Naruto's new name, I apologize, but I thought that a slight change to Naruto's guardians would be a good one, and one of their names would be a little bit of an interferenc to Naruto's new name. So, from now on, Naruto's new name is Athrun, not Kira.  
**


	3. Eventful Reunions

The Metal Knight

Disclaimer: I do not Naruto, Gundam SEED/Destiny, or any other source I may use in this story. They belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Technique/Jutsu"

"**Demon Speech**"

"_Radio Speech_"

Chapter 3: Eventful Reunions

Athrun had stopped moving completely, much like everyone else, at the sight before him. Standing there, was none other than Sarutobi Hizuren, the retired Sandaime Hokage, also known as 'The Professor' and 'The God of Shinobi.' Currently, he was smiling at the young man in front of him, while the person in question could only stare at the man in shock.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, Athrun." Hizuren said, his face showing nothing but kindness to the boy. Hearing this, Athrun dropped his arms, and almost instantly, the weapons in his hands, and the armor on his body vanished, leaving him there in a pair of trimmed black pants and a black t-shirt(1). After the armor and outer clothes had vanished, Athrun ran forward and embraced the elderly Hokage in a tight hug.

"Saru-ojji, I missed you." He said, while hugging the man, a few stray tears falling from his eyes. Sarutobi simply sighed, while hugging the boy back, shocking most of the gathered people, with the exceptions of Minato, Kushina, and a few select ANBU that were completely unharmed(2).

"And I'm glad to see you again, Athrun." He replied getting a nod from the boy, who pulled away slightly, and looked at the man.

"Thanks for using the name I like." Athrun commented, getting a laugh from the elderly man.

"Well, there are a few things I would like to talk to you about, so let's go back to my home." Sarutobi said, receiving a nod again from the boy, and they broke apart from their hug to head out.

"Hold it!" Was suddenly heard, and they both turned to see it was Minato who had shouted. "He isn't going anywhere. Naruto is going to stand trial for attacking and killing Shinobi of Konoha, as well as deserting this village as a boy!"

Athrun went to respond, but Sarutobi stepped in front of the boy, and spoke first. "Minato, you may be Hokage, but that only allows you absolute control over the Shinobi portion of the village, which Athrun is not a member of. Also, ATHRUN," Sarutobi put emphasis on the name, "only attacked any Nin who felt the need to attack him, so it is classified as self-defense, which I'm sure you remember the Fire Daimyo will agree with." At the mention of the Fire Daimyo, Minato's face turned sour, because many knew the Yondaime Hokage and the current Daimyo didn't see eye to eye at all.

"That may be, however, he must be punished." Minato tried, only to receive a hard glare from the elderly former Hokage.

"Minato, if anything, the Shinobi that attacked him, as well as you and your daughter, should be punished, for attacking a young boy for no reason other than him not listening to your orders. Which, I might add, are preposterous." Sarutobi said, getting a glare from Minato. "Also, if you want to push it, this boy is under the Sarutobi family's protection, and attacking him would be like attacking myself, and such an action would immediately call for your removal from office." Sarutobi added when he saw the Yondaime's hand ghost to his kunai pouch.

"Fine." Minato said, as he vanished in a swirl of leaves. Athrun and Sarutobi were about to leave again, but once again, they were stopped, this time by Kushina.

"Naruto, please, come with your mother, and not Hizuren." She tried, hoping the boy would listen to her this time, since she honestly believed her child's anger was at his father and not her.

"I've told you time and time again, I'm not your son, and my name is not Naruto." He said coldly, turning his gaze to the woman. "My name is Athrun, and the only family I have is either outside the Veil of Mists, or right beside me." With that said, Athrun and Sarutobi left her, Zabuza and Haku following, while she sat there, honestly believing this to be a mistake (she's just in denial).

(Sarutobi Family Home)

After making it to the Sarutobi house, he had asked one of the family servants for tea for himself and some guests. Haku and Zabuza had asked to head to another area, where they could speak about something else of importance, which Sarutobi agreed to, while he and Athrun spoke elsewhere. After sitting and getting themselves into comfortable positions, and waiting for the tea, Sarutobi decided to start a conversation.

"It's good to see you doing so well on your own." Sarutobi said, catching Athrun's attention.

"Yeah, though I'm not really all on my own." Athrun replied, getting a confused look from the elderly man. "I've met several precious people outside of this place, and I've gained the strength I have from the need to protect them."

"I'm glad to hear you've inherited the Will of Fire, Athrun." Sarutobi said, while the servant returned and she happily served the tea.

"Yeah, that's one thing you taught me as a boy, Saru-ojji." Athrun said, accepting his tea. "Thank you." He said to the servant, getting a smile from her. "And, you also taught me to stand up for what I believe, which is why I fought those Shinobi who would use me for their own benefits."

"Yes, I was rather impressed with your performance. If I had to say, you would probably have given me a run for my money, if I were still in my youth." Sarutobi said, getting a laugh from Athrun and from himself. "Athrun, I hate to jump to the point, but I was wondering if you could tell me where you managed to get that armor you were wearing."

Taking up his tea and blowing some air on it, Athrun took a careful sip, and sighed out loud. "First…" He said, before his shield reappeared, and he chucked it toward the wall, where a concealed shinobi in ANBU gear, fell out of his hiding spot. However, unlike regular ANBU, this one had a ceramic mask with the kanji for ROOT on it.

Sighing out loud, Sarutobi stood and moved toward the ROOT member, who stood before the Hokage at attention. "Go back to Danzo, and tell him, Homura and Koharu to be here in ten minutes." With that said, the ROOT saluted, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Sitting back down, he received a curious look from Athrun. "I'm sorry to make you wait, but I have a few other guests that will be arriving soon, and since they were the ones who helped me help you the most, I was hoping you could include them in your discussion?" Sarutobi said, getting a nod from the young man.

(Ten minutes later)

After the allotted time had passed, there were now three new people in the room, all of them equal to Sarutobi's age. One the far left to the elderly Hokage was a man with a larger gray beard, and a pair of glasses on his face. Next to him was a woman with her hair tied in a tight bun on the top of her head. Then sat Sarutobi, and on the right of him sat another man, this one with a darker gray hair, with an X-shaped scar on his chin, and bandages covering the right side of his face.

"Athrun, these three people beside me are the ones mostly responsible for you staying alive when you lived in Konoha." Sarutobi explained to the boy. "On my far left, is Mitokado Homura, and next to him is Utatane Koharu. Then, this man on my right is Shimura Danzo, who is in charge of the ROOT division of ANBU, which you saw earlier. Since I had retired from the Hokage position, I had no say in the council, so these three were the voice keeping alive within their ranks."

"Hizuren, we may have been the 'voice' on the council, but you were the 'will' driving us to fight for Naruto." Homura said, getting a scowl from the blonde. "I apologize, Athrun." He corrected, getting a nod of thanks from Athrun.

"It was thanks to Hizuren that we found loopholes to keep you in his care for a short time, until your 'parents' forced us to relinquish you back to them." Koharu continued, the word parents coming from her mouth like a deadly poison.

"Unfortunately, I may have been partially responsible for some of what happened to you." Danzo admitted, shocking the blonde and getting confused glances from the other three. "I had gone to Minato about finding a purpose for you, Athrun, in hopes that if we found some way for you to help the village, you would be able to live a somewhat normal life."

"So, you pushed him to turn me into a living weapon?" Athrun asked, his features hardening at this, until Danzo quickly waved his hand in defense.

"No, that part was not my doing." At Athrun's skeptical look, he continued. "I had suggested that if we could show you a reason to fight for us, to protect some part of this village, you would consider staying and become a valuable ally to Konoha. Minato, however, took the idea out of my original suggestion, and decided that making you submissive to the village would be the best way, so that you would obey any order without question."

"So you…" Athrun started, and Danzo continued.

"I was hoping your caring side for Sarutobi would give you a reason to fight for Konoha, but the Yondaime has given you more than enough of a reason to level this whole village."

"Believe me when I say, if it wasn't for Saru-ojji, this place would probably be a smoking crater by now." Athrun said, getting solemn nods from the gathered people, since they knew the boy was well within his rights to destroy everything here. "Now, you were asking about the armor, Saru-ojji?" Athrun asked.

"Yes, I've been wondering ever since I saw your fight with the other Nin. What exactly is that armor, and where did you get it."

"To answer that question, I need to explain exactly what happened after I left Konoha at the age of five. I wandered around the elemental nations for a time, mostly avoiding the major villages as much as I could." Athrun began, thinking back to his past.

(Flashback)

_Naruto was still walking through the woods, his anger for what had happened to him was fueling his desire to keep moving, despite how tired he felt. No matter how much he tried though, he couldn't push the memories of what had happened to him, all while his parents stood by and did nothing. It was then that Naruto found out he was being followed, which only caused him to start running as fast he could go. Seconds later, a figure smashed into his back, driving the young boy into the ground, and before he could stand back up, he was grabbed by the collar and lifted to the face of a man wearing a hitai-ate which had something akin to two mountains on it(3)._

"_Well, well, well, if it isn't the son of the famed Yellow Flash." He said, only to receive a glare from the boy he was holding off the ground._

"_Don't call me his son!" The boy yelled back, only for the Nin to drive his fist into the boys stomach, while throwing him to the side._

"_You're voice is so annoying, I think I'll cut your voice box out before I take you to Onoki-sama." He commented, while pulling a kunai from is pouch and advancing to the boy. Naruto was currently trying to move away from him, but the punch to his stomach seemed to have cracked a few ribs._

_Suddenly, a loud bang, like a thunder clap, rang out, and the advancing Nin stopped, before moving a hand up to his chest. Pulling the hand back, he found blood on his fingers, but before he could turn to see what had caused this, another thunder clap was heard, and the man dropped, this time blood pooling out of his head._

_Naruto, who had finally managed to right himself somewhat, saw another man, this one with brown hair and soft purple eyes walking toward him, while he holstered something the boy didn't recognize back to his side._

"_Are you alright?" The man asked, while knelling before Naruto. However, the blonde turned his head away from the man, getting a confused glance from him._

"_I'm fine." Naruto said, while he tried to stand up. Keyword being 'tried', since as soon as he got to his feet, he lost his balance, and would have fallen, if not for the man quickly catching him._

"_From the way you're standing, and your breathing sounds, I would say you're not fine." He commented, getting a sharp look from the blonde, though the boy was having breathing problems. The man simply sighed, before picking the blonde boy up and carrying him with him._

"_Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto asked, his mind already thinking this man would try and hurt him like the others._

"_I'm taking you back to my ship, where you can get a check-up to see what's wrong." The man answered. As he continued carrying the blonde, Naruto turned his gaze from the path ahead to look at the man, even though his vision was getting a darker._

"_Why are you helping me?" Naruto asked._

"_Look kid, I don't think I need a reason to help someone." That was the last thing Naruto heard before he blacked out._

_(Later)_

_As Naruto regained consciousness, he found himself in a white room, which he recognized as a hospital, simply from the color of the room, and the smell of it. Sitting up slightly, the blonde flinched from the pain in his ribs, which he noticed were wrapped in medical tape._

"_Oh, you're awake." Was suddenly heard, drawing his attention to a new person, a woman, who had long pink hair, and warm blue eyes. She quickly walked to his bed and sat a tray of food down beside him, before turning her attention back to him. "How are you feeling?"_

_For some reason, her soft voice and kind face seemed to put Naruto more at ease than any other adult could, even Saru-ojji. "I'm feeling better." He replied causing the woman's smile to seemingly get brighter._

"_That's good to hear." She said, while ruffling Naruto's hair affectionately._

"_So, where are we?" Naruto asked, honest curiosity coming to the forefront, and when he expected a slap for his question, he received an answer._

"_Inside a ship called the Eternal. It belongs to my husband and myself." She answered._

"_Your husband?" Naruto questioned._

"_That would be me." A voice said, one that Naruto recognized, and sure enough, it was the man that had helped him from his attacker. "Glad to see you've finally rejoined the land of the living."_

"_Yeah, thanks for helping me." Naruto said, while bowing his head slightly._

"_It's not a problem; I'm not the kind of person to stand idly by and watch someone get hurt, especially a child." The man said. "By the way, my name is Kira Yamato."_

"_And I'm Lacus." The woman continued. "What's your name, young one?" At her question, Lacus and Kira noticed the blonde grimace._

"_Something wrong?" Kira asked._

"_I have a name, but I hate it." The boy said, receiving confused looks from the adults before him. "It reminds me of too many bad memories."_

"_Well, how about a new one?" Lacus said, causing Naruto to stare at her with a confused expression. "Since you don't like your old name, how about we give you a new one?"_

"_Really?" Naruto asked, hoping beyond anything else that he could shed his old name, and in a sense his old life._

"_Sure." Kira said, as he thought for a moment. "Let's see, how about…" Kira began, until Lacus took up after him._

"_Athrun?" Lacus said, gaining a confused look from Kira and Naruto._

"_You want to give him the name of our best friend?" Kira asked._

"_Yes, he reminds me of Athrun. He shows determination to do what he feels in best, but there is an underlying show of kindness, even if it is small." Lacus reasoned._

"_Well, what do you say?" Kira asked Naruto._

"_Ath-run?" Naruto said, as if trying the name out. "Yeah, I like it." He answered._

"_Well, Athrun it is." Lacus said happily._

"_Did someone say Athrun?" A new voice said, and the two adults, as well as the newly named Athrun saw another two people had entered the room. One was a male, of equal height to Kira, who had black hair and red eyes. The other was a female, who was the same height as Lacus, with deep red hair and blue eyes._

"_Oh, Shinn, Lunamaria, we just decided on this kids name." Kira said, gesturing to the blonde on the bed. "He apparently hates his old name, so Lacus and I gave him a new one." Kira finished, while gesturing to the other male._

"_Why Athrun's name?" The red-head, now known as Lunamaria, asked._

"_I just thought the name suited him." Lacus replied, receiving a simple nod from Lunamaria._

"_Oh, that reminds me, Kira." Shinn said, gaining Kira's attention once again. "It seems there's been some kind of battle in the nearby area."_

"_A battle?" Kira asked._

"_Yes." Shinn responded. "Scanners are showing a few life signs, though most of them won't last long from what we can tell."_

"_Should we help the survivors?" Lunamaria asked._

"_We'll inspect the area, but keep on alert. If there are any more enemies in the area, we can't afford to let them get the jump on us." Kira replied, as he turned back to the young boy in their care. "Athrun, we need you to stay—" Only for Kira and the others to realize the boy was gone._

"_Where did he go?" Lacus said, looking around for their young charge._

"_Commander Yamato__."A voice said from a nearby panel, to which Kira quickly moved toward it and activated it._

"_What is it, Mr. Waltfeld? And you can stop with the Commander line; I'm not among normal ZAFT members here." Kira replied._

"_Right, sorry about that, youngster__." The man on the screen, who appeared to be in his later 30's replied, the most distinguished feature about him being the large scar running over his left eye. "__Anyway, it seems that the young kid you brought back with you has just left the ship, heading toward the village that we detected being destroyed__."_

"_What?" Kira replied, while Lacus and Lunamaria both held their hands to their mouth in shock, while Shinn and Kira's features hardened a bit. "Damn, I'm going out in the Freedom, the Eternal is to take off immediately afterwards."_

"_Roger that__." Waltfeld said, cutting off the transmission._

"_Kira let me sortie in the Destiny too." Shinn said, getting a sharp nod from Kira._

_(Destroyed village, moments later)_

_The newly named Athrun had run as fast as he could, not even bothering to notice the pain from his chest was no longer there, as he tried to get to the village. When had heard of some survivors from the person called Shinn, the blonde realized that he couldn't leave any of these people to fend for themselves, and so he had went, not even caring that he couldn't do much for them._

_Arriving at the wreckage, the blonde looked around and almost immediately felt ill seeing the damage. Buildings had been left in shambles, corpses lay about the village and fires were slowly eating away at some spots. It was then that Athrun noticed a few individuals moving about, and moving closer, he saw it was a group of men with headbands on, these one's displaying a crescent moon._

"_Heh, who would have thought Riko-sama was right, this girl really can sense and hide chakra." One said, holding a sack over his shoulder._

"_Yeah, now we need to deliver her to back to our master, and get our reward." Another said._

_Athrun, hearing about their plan, felt an unexplainable anger resonating from his body, and for some reason, he felt a strange energy from deep inside surface. It was then the boy noticed a red aura surrounding his body, while his nails lengthened into claws, and he felt his canines grow out into fangs. Also, though he couldn't see it, his pupils had changed from round to a slit. Feeling the power rushing through him, Athrun jumped out from his hiding spot, surprising the unsuspecting Nin, and himself, when he left several dozen feet into air, before crashing down on top of one of them._

"_Shit, who the hell is this kid?" One shouted as he threw a punch at the blonde, which caught him in the face. However, the enemy Nin pulled his hand back in pain as he realized the aura around the kid had burned his flesh. "Damn, that hurt!"_

"_Well, how about we take this kid back too?" Another suggested, seeing the hit had smashed the blonde into a building and dispelled the aura around him._

'_Damn, I can't move.' Athrun thought, while trying and failing to move his legs to stand again(4)._

"_Ha, well kid, I guess you're coming with us." The first Nin, who still had the sack with him said, as he reached out to grab the blonde by the neck. However, his attention was drawn away, as he saw something huge coming toward them, or, to be specific, three large something's._

_Two of them were large, humanoid like objects, both of them had a mostly white color, with red, blue and black mixed into it, while one had golden color joints. The third object was much larger than the other two, and shaped like a ship of sorts, while the main color was pink._

"_What the hell are those?" The first Nin shouted, while he dropped Athrun and the sack over his shoulder, and bolted along with his comrades, since they saw the humanoid objects were about to land right in front of them. When they were a good distance away, the machines pulled what appeared to be rifles and fired off a bolt of green energy from each one. As the blasts hit the ground under the fleeing Nin, the ground exploded, effectively killing the enemies._

_Athrun turned his gaze to the large machines, and as they landed on the ground and a hatch on the top slid open, he lost consciousness once again._

_(Sometime later, medical room)_

_Athrun once again opened his eyes, and immediately recognized the room he had woken up in once before._

"_Geez, kid, you need to stop being so reckless." A voice he recognized said, and turning, the blonde found the girl he met from before, who if he remember right, was named Lunamaria._

"_Yeah, I get that a lot." The young blonde replied, getting a smile from the red-head. "The village, what happened?" Athrun suddenly remembered._

"_When we arrived, there was nothing we could do. All but one of the villagers had been killed, so we decided to leave the area, in order to avoid any more enemies." Lunamaria replied. Athrun, hearing this, clenched his fist, until the whole statement registered._

"_There was a survivor?" He asked._

"_Yes, but first, I have a question." Turning his gaze, the young blonde saw the man from earlier, Shinn, if he recalled correctly. "When we were approaching the area, we saw you covered in a strange energy. Do you have any idea what that was?"_

"_No, that was the first time I ever felt it before." Athrun answered._

"_Well, in any case, we're currently heading away from the continent we found you on." Shinn responded._

"_Where are we going?" The young blonde asked._

"_We're heading to country called Orb." Lunamaria answered, only to receive a confused look from the younger blonde. "Maybe you should look out the window to see for yourself." She continued, while gesturing toward the window. Taking her advice, Athrun turned his gaze to the window, saw them flying over a large ocean, at speeds he hadn't thought possible._

"_Come on, if you feel up to it, well take you to see something really cool." Shinn said, and as Athrun tried to stand up, he felt his knees buckle, and he would have fallen, had Lunamaria not caught him in time._

"_Easy there, kiddo." She said, getting a bashful look from the blonde._

"_Sorry, but I've been having trouble moving since that man from before knocked me down." Athrun confessed._

"_Well, we'll get you a full exam when we reach our destination, but until then…" She said, while picking up and carrying Athrun with her and Shinn to their new destination. Moments later, they arrived at the bridge, where Athrun saw Kira and Lacus as well, and when the two of them noticed the new arrivals, the turned to greet them. Shinn immediately saluted Kira, who returned the gesture, and then turned to Lunamaria._

"_Don't worry about saluting, Luna, I can see you have your hands full." Kira commented._

"_So, how long until we reach Orb?" Lacus asked._

"_I'd say about another five minutes, it should be coming into view any moment now." Another voice answered, this one belonging to the same Mr. Waltfeld from earlier._

"_Oh, there it is, see it Athrun." Luna said, looking out the front of the ship. Athrun turned his gaze as well, and saw a large island coming into view._

"_Wow." Athrun said, as he saw several ships on the water, which had several humanoid machines on them, though these were mainly white and orange in color._

"_This is the Orb 4__th__ Naval Defense fleet, calling the approaching ship__." A voice said, as a face appeared on a monitor. "__Identify yourself, or be shot down__."_

_Kira stepped forward. "This is ZAFT Commander Kira Yamato, aboard my flagship, the Eternal, requesting permission to land. Authorization code 14659."_

"_Checking__." The man on the monitor said. "__All information checks out, welcome back to Orb, Commander Yamato__." The man said, as the image cut, and the machines on the ships lowered their rifles, allowing the Eternal to pass._

"_Well, once we arrive, I'll introduce you to my sister, and her husband." Kira said to Athrun. "Then, when you're ready, we can have Orb's best medical staff find out if there's anything wrong with you." Athrun nodded at this, though the thought of facing doctors did scare him._

(Flashback End)

"Afterwards, we managed to arrive in the country of Orb, and then—" Athrun was saying, but a voice interrupted him.

"I'm terribly sorry for barging in, Hizuren-sama, but there are several people here wishing to see an Athrun Yamato." The maid from earlier said. At this, Athrun paled, and stood up, while the maid led him to where the newcomers were. The other four decided to follow and see what was going on. They arrived just in time to hear a loud "ATHRUN-KUN!" and a loud crash, and when they arrived, they found two red-head girls had tackled the young blonde, while another red-head and a black-haired girl stood behind them.

"Athrun, who are these four young ladies?" Homura questioned, gaining the new arrivals attention, which gave Athrun the time to escape the girls holding him, and stand back up.

"Oh, well, I guess you could say they're my girl-friends." Athrun said, while he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face.

**And that wraps this one up. I've gotten to how Naruto met his new guardians, and his encounters with some of them, and I decided to wrap it up at here for now. Also, to set the timeline straight, this story takes place about 5 years after the end of the Second Bloody Valentine war. Now, for the number notes.**

**(1)This is the base clothing that Naruto wears. The white trench coat and outer clothes from before were the armor pieces, which were only there for partial protection. As of now, Athrun has not used the full armor mode yet.**

**(2)These ANBU, while serving the Yondaime, still obey the Sandaime, and knew better than to interfere with Athrun's battle.**

**(3)This is the symbol for Iwagakure no Sato.**

**(4)Since Athrun is so young, and not used to using chakra, using the Kyuubi's raw power has the effect of temporary paralysis of his body. This won't be the case for long, since I have plans for that particular fox.**

**And before I start hearing people whining about Naruto acting to grown up when he gave the reason for hating his birth name, he may only be five years old, but he's been through some shit that would make even the most war-hardened people stop and stare in shock. So, as a side effect, Naruto has been forced to grow up mentally, even though he is only still a kid. So, deal with it.**

**Also, to answer a few Reviews:**

**Raw666: Yes, Minato did overstep his bounds, even as Hokage, but the problem is that there is no one left in Konoha to take up the mantle that would, so the Daimyo has no choice but to leave the Yondaime alone. Also, it doesn't help the fact that a good portion (a little less than half) of the Shinobi council and all of the Civilian council back the Yondaime. And, suffice to say, I have a plan for Hinata, though some Hinata fans might hate me for it, until I patch the idea up.**

**Timeless agent: Dude, you say my story sucks, but you're mainly pissed at me messing with Sasuke. Listen, hate me for the plot points, or maybe what few grammar mistakes I do make, but do not hate on the Sasuke-hating. Sasuke isn't some hot-shot ninja, he's not some upper-class aristocrat, he's a jerk-off that's living off the prestige of his practically dead clan, and soaking up the Civilian's adoration like a sponge. The only thing that pussy has going for him is the Sharingan, and if you take that away, he's a fucking loser.**

**So, I'll say it now, I HATE SASUKE! That little prick needs his ego dropped a few thousand miles and believe me, it will happen.**


	4. Power To The Writers

The administrators of are as of June 4th going to be taking down Fics that have lemons or have extreme violence. Now I don't know about you but I think thats stupid. There are many wonderful fics that only have one or two lemons in them yet the plot itself is awesome! You can't just take down a 100,000+ word fic just because it has a lemon in a chapter that is only 1000 words long. Now I urge you all to read the petition below, sign it, and repost this to your own fics. Hopefully if we make enough noise everything will return to normal. Thank you.

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

Psudocode_Samurai  
Rocketman1728  
dracohalo117  
VFSNAKE  
Agato the Venom Host  
Jay Frost  
SamCrow  
Blood Brandy  
Dusk666  
Hisea Ori  
The Dark Graven  
BlackRevenant  
Lord Orion Salazar Black  
Sakusha Saelbu  
Horocrux  
socras01  
Kumo no Makoto  
Biskoff  
Korraganitar the NightShadow  
NightInk  
Lazruth  
ragnrock kyuubi  
SpiritWriterXXX  
Ace6151  
FleeingReality  
Harufu  
Exiled crow  
Slifer1988  
Dee Laynter  
Angeldoctor  
Final Black Getsuga  
ZamielRaizunto  
Fenris187  
blood enraged  
arashiXnoXkami  
tstoldt  
Mystic 6 tailed Naruto  
ElementalMaster16  
Dark Vizard447  
Darth Void Sage of the Force  
Shiso no Kitsune  
The Sinful  
Kage640  
Ihateheroes  
swords of twilight  
Kyuubi16  
darthkamon  
narutodragon  
bunji the wolf  
Cjonwalrus  
Killjoy3000  
blueexorist  
White Whiskey  
Ying the Nine Tail Fox  
Gin of the wicked smile  
tstoldt  
The wolf god Fenri  
JazzyJ09  
sleepers4u  
The Unknown 007  
Gallantmon228  
MKTerra  
Gunbladez19  
Forgottenkami  
RHatch89  
SoulKingonCrack  
Dreadman75  
Knives91  
The Lemon Sage  
Dark Spidey  
VioletTragedies  
Eon The Cat of Shadows  
kazikamikaze24  
animegamemaster6  
LLOYDROCKS  
demented-squirrel  
swords of dawn  
The Immoral Flame  
blueexorist  
Challenger  
Shywhitefox  
drp83  
Bethrezen  
Dragon6  
bellxross  
unweymexicano  
The First Kitsukage  
kingdom219  
brown phantom  
littleking9512  
kurokamiDG  
Auumaan  
FrancineBlossom  
BDG420  
Her Dark Poet  
bloodrosepsycho  
Shen an Calhar  
NarutoMasterSage4040  
Masamune X23  
Kuromoki  
Sliver Lynx  
devilzxknight86  
Unis Crimson  
Zero X Limit

reven228  
JAKdaRIPPER  
Third Fang  
IRAssault  
Grumpywinter  
absolutezero001  
Single Silver Eye  
animekingmike  
Daniel Lynx  
zerohour20xx  
Darth Drafter  
arturus  
Iseal  
Shisarakage  
Uzunaru999  
Dark-Knight  
fearme80  
Devilsummoner666  
slicerness  
Toa Naruto  
Soleneus  
kagedoragon  
dansama92  
KamenRiderNexus  
Captive Crimson  
KyuubiiLover27  
MozillaEverer  
4rm36uy  
ebm6969  
Repiece  
phantomshadowdragon  
Colonel Eagle  
Timothy1988  
ShadowZenith  
awsm125  
The Purple Critic  
Darkepyon  
Zombyra  
brickster409  
ChaosSonic1  
Leaf Ranger  
SoulEmbrace2010  
Oni Shin  
Silverknight17  
Specter637  
HunterBerserkerWolf  
shadow-red0  
The Roaming Shadow  
bucketbot  
AvalonNakamura  
Avacii  
Maxwell Gray  
Silvdra-zero  
Arashi walker  
Lord of Daemons  
Lord Anime  
CloudRed1988  
forestscout  
The Lost Mana  
Red Warrior of Light  
TUAOA MORRISTOFOX  
Mr. Alaska  
Swagnilla-Ice-1985  
MugetsuIchigo  
bloodlust002  
Nerverean  
Kage Biju  
JK10  
OBSERVER01  
MistressWinowyll  
Count Kulalu  
ronin504  
ted009  
Ralmidaz  
lederra

Time Hollow

fg7dragon

chaosthesith89

DanteSparda894

bellxross


End file.
